284 a:^endix. 



The scene was one of awful grandeur ; the sea having turned to 

 phosphorus, and the heavens being hung in blackness, and the 

 stars going out, seemed to indicate that all Nature was preparing 

 for that last grand conflagration which we are taught to believe is 

 to annihilate this material world. 



"After passing through the patch, we noticed that the sky, for 

 four or five degrees above the horizon, was considerably illumin- 

 ated, something like a faint aurora borealis. We soon passed out 

 of sight of the whole concern, and had a line night, without any con- 

 flagration (except of midnight oil in trying to find out what was in 

 the water). I send you this, because I believe you request your 

 corps of ' one thousand assistants' to furnish you with all such 

 items, and I trust it will be acceptable. But, as for its furnishing 

 you with much, if any, information relative to the insects or ani- 

 mals that inhabit the mighty deep, time will only tell ; I can not 

 think it will." — Maury's Sailing Dh-ections, 7th ed., p. 174. 



K.— Page 249, <J 541. 

 NUMBER AND SIZE OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



"We dive into the liquid crystal of the Indian Ocean, and it opens 

 to us the most wondrous enchantments of the fairy tales of our 

 childhood's dreams. The strangely branching thickets bear living 

 flowers. Dense masses of Meandrinas and Astrseas contrast with 

 the leafy, cup-shaped expansions of the Explanarias, the variously- 

 ramified Madrepores, which are now spread out like fingers, now 

 rise in trunk-like branches, and now display the most elegant ar- 

 ray of interlacing branches. The coloring surpasses every thing : 

 vivid green alternates with brown or yellow ; rich tints of purple, 

 from pale red-brown to the deepest blue. Brilliant rosy, yellow, 

 or peach-colored Nullipores overgrow the decaying masses, and 

 are themselves interwoven with the pearl-colored plates of the 

 Retipores, resembling the most delicate ivory carvings. Close by 

 wave the yellow and lilac fans, perforated like trellis-work, of the 

 Gorgonias. The clear sand of the bottom is covered with the 

 thousand strange forms and tints of the sea-urchins and star-fishes. 

 The leaf-like Flustras and Escharas adhere like mosses and lich- 

 ens to the branches of the corals ; the yellow, green, and purple- 

 striped Limpets cling like monstrous cochineal insects upon their 

 trunks. Like gigantic cactus-blossoms, sparkling in the most ar- 

 dent colors, the Sea Anemones expand their crowns of tentacles 

 upon the broken rocks, or more modestly embellish the flat bot- 

 tom, looking hke beds of variegated Ranunculuses. Around the 

 blossoms of the coral shrubs play the humming-birds of the ocean, 

 little fish sparlding with red or blue metalhc glitter, or gleaming 

 in golden green, or in the brightest silvery lustre. 



